The Scoop: It's hard to tell who should get top billing for this film -- Prince or his momumental ego.
In this excessively transparent vanity project, The Artist Then Still Known as Prince plays "The Kid," a Minnesota rocker on the rise. All the co-stars (including Morris Day, Apollonia and most of the rest of Prince's extended entourage) pretty much play themselves. It's supposed to have some basis in Prince's real life rise to fame, but that's probably pretty tenuous at best. The situations are full of age-old entertainment biopic clichés, and quite frankly, Prince's character comes off as a major asshole. (Then again, that last part might be entirely true.)
But the plot is beside the point anyway; "Purple Rain" is all about the music, and it features one of the best soundtracks albums out there. Besides the title track, there's "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "I Would Die 4 U" -- it's a virtual greatest hits album. And the versions used in the film were all recorded live, giving them an urgency that could only be supplied by Prince and the Revolution at their creative peak.
There may be a lot of creaky backstage melodrama and Prince-puffery to wade through, but at least there's great wall-to-wall music and those kooky '80s fashions to keep you occupied. "Purple Rain" is a classic in its own idiosyncratic way.
Best Bit: The oh-so-wacky "What's the password" bit. Come to think of it, that's probably the worst bit, too.
Side Note: The symbol painted on the side of the gas tank on Prince's motorcycle is actually an early version of his "unpronounceable symbol" name.
The Scoop: Indie horror maestro George A. Romero takes a low-key approach in this meditative, nontraditional addition to vampire lore, before reaching a genuinely shocking conclusion.
John Amplas is the sympathetic, sexually dysfunctional Martin, who may or may not be an 84-year-old bloodsucker stuck in permanent pubescence. However, in Romero's world, none of the usual vampire trappings are real -- Martin doesn't even have fangs. Instead, Martin subdues his young female victims with a hypodermic needle, then has sex with them while cutting them and draining their blood.
There are some suspenseful sequences, although the majority of the film centers on Martin's brooding over his sexuality and the religious mania of his elderly cousin who wants to "cure" him. The film's sole weak spot is the poor performances by the still-unknown cast (except for long-time Romero collaborator Tom Savini, who has a small supporting role and created the makeup effects.)
"Martin" is very much a product of its time, focusing on thought-provoking themes of sex, religion and identity rather thrills, jolts or gore. These strengths are the strengths of the best 1970s films. The film is also one of the high points of Romero's body of work, although it is largely forgotten today in favor of his zombie series.
Best Line: "First I will save your soul. Then I will destroy you!"
Side Note: Amplas is a Romero regular, appearing in five of the director's films, as well as serving as casting director for "Dawn of the Dead" (1978).
Companion Viewing: "Nadja" (1994) and "The Addiction" (1995).
The Scoop: The eternally sexy Veronica Lake tries her hand at comedy (a big change of pace for her) with "I Married a Witch" and comes out a winner.
The spirits of a witch (Lake) and her father (Cecil Kellaway), burned at the stake in the 17th century, visit the 20th century to exact revenge on the descendant (Frederic March) of their persecutor (March again). Instead, the witch falls in love with the modern guy. This amusing little film with the feather-light touch of director René Clair flies by at a breezy 77 minutes. And it also served as the inspiration for the "Bewitched" television series 20 years later.
And all that would be enough to recommend this film. But it is raised a notch by Lake's presence and sex appeal, which prove that there was a lot more to her than just being a noir moll.
Best Line: "'Twould be nice to have lips... lips to whisper lies... lips to kiss man and make him suffer. Father, why cannot I have lips, and eyes, and hair?"
Side Note: The production got uncredited help from Preston Sturges (who produced) and future blacklistee Dalton Trumbo (who co-wrote). However both men eventually left the production before it was finished.
The Scoop: Dreamworks scores again with this fun, energetic throwback to 1950s-era creature features.
After a Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a meteor on her wedding day, she grows to 50 feet tall. She is captured and sent to a secret government facilty where she meets a misfit group of monsters straight out of your favorite B-movies -- Dr. Cockroach, a half man/half cockroach mad scientist (Hugh Laurie); The Missing Link, a prehistoric amphibious creature (Will Arnett); B.O.B., a gelatinous blob (Seth Rogen); and a giant insect named Insectosaurus. They are quickly called upon to fight an invasion by the crackpot alien Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson).
Also in the cast are Paul Rudd, Keifer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert and Amy Poehler.
The plot is simple and fast-moving, and directors Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman (plus a small army of co-screenwriters) keep the gags coming at a breakneck pace. While this is enough to entertain the kids, the adults will enjoy spoofs and allusions to films from "The Amazing Colossal Man" and "The Blob" to "Vertigo" and "Dr. Strangelove." It is also refreshing to see a lead female character who is not a girlfriend or a princess, but a real woman who gets to be heroic in her own right.
The animation is excellent, except for Susan's absurdly large eyes and a few gratuitous shots designed for the 3-D audience (the first, a clever nod to the 3-D "House of Wax"). A few of the jokes fall flat, but they are more than outweighed by the ones that work. Throw in a couple of well choreographed battle scenes (particularly the one the rages across the streets of San Francisco and onto the Golden Gate Bridge) and you've got yourself a winner.
Best Line: "I am brave. I'm a brave president!"
Side Note: Keep your ears peeled for the Wilhem scream during the fight with the Gallaxhar clones.
The Scoop: Producer/huckster extraordinaire William Castle's attempt to cash in on the success of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is actually surprisingly good in its own right.
A young woman returns to her family mansion in a small town to claim her half of an inheritance. However, her brother and their elderly nanny's caretaker (don't ask) have other ideas.
Even though the killer is identified in the first 10 minutes, the script keeps the viewer guessing about motives until the end, and the sly visual references to "Psycho" make the blatant plot appropriations more palatable.
This is all enough on it's own to make a fun film, but then there's Castle's gimmick this time around. It's the "fright break," in which the film pauses for 45 seconds right before the climactic scene to that viewers who are too scared can retreat to the lobby and stand in the "Coward's Corner."
Shot in the cheesy tourist trap town of Solvang, California, "Homicidal" also features one of the most dysfunctional cinematic families this side of "Spider Baby," as well as a great, campy performance by Joan Marshall.
It's films like this that give B-movies a good name.
Best Bit: Karl, the nerdy hero (played by Glenn Corbett), overreacts to some minor vandalism in the flower shop: "What kind of mind would do something like this? More like an animal than a human being!"
Side Note: The bathrobe worn by the justice of the peace was reused by Castle for the 1963 film "13 Frightened Girls!"
Companion Viewing: "Psycho" (1960) and "Die, Mommie, Die!" (2003).
Spring is bustin' out all over here at Desuko World Headquarters, so we're going to take a break next week. Look for new reviews starting April 14 or so. In the meantime, go play outside or something!
The Scoop: This short film by the legendary Willis O'Brien (best known for creating the original King Kong) and his partner Herbert Dawley is one of the earliest examples of stop-motion animation on film.
The plot is simple -- two young boys ask their Uncle Jack to tell them a story, and he weaves a yarn about meeting the ghost of an old hermit on a mountain trip, who gives him magical binoculars which let Jack see into the prehistoric past. The prehistoric scenes, featuring O'Brien's stop-motion dinosaurs and birds, will probably seem crude by today's standards (not to mention the standards of O'Brien's later works), but still exude a certain charm. The seeds of O'Brien's later, more famous, work can already be seen. And if you watch it with a certain sense of humor, the rest of the plot becomes bizarrely entertaining.
The project started life as a feature, but after the usual "creative differences" Dawley cut down the film to 18 minutes and removed O'Brien's name. O'Brien would get the last laugh, though, by taking many of the concepts and models from "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" and using them for 1925's "The Lost World," his breakthrough film that launched his long, legendary career.
Best Line: "I tried to convince Joe to take off his clothes and pose as a faun."
Side Note: Besides writing and producing the film together, O'Brien and Dawley also costar in it -- O'Brien as "Mad Dick" the hermit, and Dawley as Uncle Jack.
The Scoop: When Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" was released in 1985, it became a landmark in the emerging genre of graphic novels and has cast a long shadow. Not only did it enlarge the storytelling possibilities in the comics field, but its effects have also been felt in the larger popular culture, particularly the way films and television shows have handled superhero themes. It was also very much a product of its times, delving deep into the Cold War anxieties of the mid-1980s.
All of which make any sort of film version of "Watchmen" especially problematic. As written by David Hayter ("X-Men") and newcomer Alex Tse and directed by Zack Snyder ("300"), the film is full of thunder and excitement, but runs up against a few walls.
The story takes place in a darker, alternate version of 1985 America in which costumed adventurers and vigilantes are common place and, after their halcyon days in the 1940s, have become increasingly distrusted by the public for enforcing the oppresive policies of the U.S. government, led by Richard Nixon in his fifth term as president. Against the backdrop of escalating nuclear tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the hero-turned-military-mercenary The Comedian is murdered. As the sociopathic vigilante Rohrshach tries to solve the crime, he and his former compatriots (including Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias) uncover corruption and a global power grab.
The novel's genius lies in its multi-layered storytelling, which is rich in symbolism, literary allusions and a wonderfully fleshed-out cast of supporting characters. The history of this alternate world is also richly detailed, providing a running commentary on the main story and rewarding careful attention. All these elements combine to debunk the idealized superhero mythos, turning a cynical eye to the corruption possible when so much power is concentrated in the hands of flawed human beings. It is a world that is less about Superman and more about Travis Bickle.
Accordingly, a faithful film adaptation is a pretty tall order. The Cold War paranoia has lost much of its edge in the nearly quarter century since its release, as had the shock of the novel's innovations. The filmmakers do their best to honor the source material, but come up with a mixed bag.
For the sake of brevity and to not alienate those who haven't read the novel, the filmmakers sweep aside much of the complex backstory for the film. While this serves to keep the focus on the current generation of heroes, it also diminishes the psychological realism of the piece. Consequently, a lot of the characters' actions exist in a vaccuum, and much of Moore's original message is lost. Almost all of the cast of minor characters is lost, too, making the proceedings seem so much thinner and one-dimensional.
And then there's the violence. While the novel and the film are each especially violent, they wind up being two different creatures. Snyder and his writers toned down many of the more brutal passages of the book in favor of Snyder's patented garish fight choreography. Limbs shatter and blood gushes in gruesome slow motion. It's hypnotic and balletic, but ultimately just eye candy. The amoral brutality that Moore used to illuminate his hard-edged characters is replaced by empty and gratuitous exercises in CGI wizardry.
But it's not all bad. The novel's greatest weakness -- its convoluted, inorganic ending -- is given a minor revamp here to better effect. It's still not wholly satisfying, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. There is also terrific cinematography by Larry Fong (a veteran of "300" and "Lost") that vividly brings to life some of the best parts of Gibbons' original artwork.
The acting, too, is solid. With the exception of a wooden turn by Malin Ackerman as the second Silk Spectre, this is a talented ensemble. Billy Crudup (as Dr. Manhattan) and Jackie Earle Haley (as Rohrshach) are particularly great.
In total, "Watchmen" is not completely successful, but it's not a failure, either. Just be sure to read the book first, to fully appreciate the story's rich possibilities.
Best Line: "Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon."
Side Note: Having been in development for decades, "Watchmen" has had numerous actors, writers and directors attached to the project at various times. Among the directors considered were Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Greenglass and Michael Bay. Among the candidates to play Rohrshach were Robin Williams, Simon Pegg, Daniel Craig and Doug Hutchinson.
Companion Viewing: "V For Vendetta" (2005) and "The Incredibles" (2004).
The Scoop:
